Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my second ambient weather, weather station I have owned. My previous station was the WS-1001 which I wrote a very positive review about. Since then things have changed and I would update that review now if not for that model and parts being discontinued. The anomometer cups broke on that model and ambient weather no longer sells replacement parts for it. Their solution was for me to purchase another entire sensor array which is nearly the cost of purchasing another complete weather station. Let’s just say in the end, I opted to buy an entirely new system. First thing to note is the outdoor sensor arrays, yes plural, do not come with batteries. The WS1001 did come with batteries for the outdoor array, but not the indoor sensor. The WS5000 comes with no batteries at all. I had done some research as to what the new offerings were avalible on the market and again I found myself drawn to ambient weather. Not so much because of having already owned one of their products, but because what they offered in a weather station fits my needs the best. I was particularly interested in the ultrasonic anemometer, but after some correspondence with ambient weather, I was a bit dissatified with their customer services ability to actually help resolve my concerns other than, just purchase new equipment. I think it’s important to carefully note that, ambient weather told me their products are only designed to last 3-5 years. That was a sour pill to swallow for a $300+ item that your only going to get 3-5 years service out of for weather data. I mean I love having real time data, but is that really worth it, especially with all the limitations and accuracy of the equipment to begin with? Speaking for myself, wind speed is the most critical data I am after. But it’s still only +/-5% accuracy. The ws5000 does have a faster update rate of 4.9 seconds, faster than any of their other models, but it’s also limited to 0-89 mph which is slightly lower than their other traditional anemometer models. I have had this weather station for about a month now and there are a number of things I’m not very happy about. The rain fall sensor is not accurate at all. There is no battery back up on the display panel. If the power goes out, the highest daily wind gust is reset to zero upon startup. And worst of all, the sensor array arm has significantly rusted as well as rust staining on the ultrasonic wind screen. I doubt the sensor array arm will last 2 years before disintegrating to the point of breaking off. I really wanted to love this weather station, but even at half the price, I’m just not feeling the love from ambient weatherthos time around. I think the most important take away here is don’t expect a long service life from any of the ambient weather products beyond the one year warranty. Given ambient weathers price point in the market, you might want to consider more robust equipment. I gave the WS5000 a two star rating mainly because of the rusting issues on the outdoor array after only one month. The rust starting showingb up after only a few days, but it has been rapidly growing ever since. In fact, I had contacted ambient weather before I even installed the array, because in their advertising pictures, the array arm is shown as black and the arm I received is unciated bare metal. They said that is how they where being manufactured now. I was tempted to give it one star and I still might before it’s all over with. But for now, I would steeer clear of the WS5000 until they change the material or do something to protect the array mounting arm.